Welcome Inside Mummas Circle - Episode 1

In Episode One of Inside Mummas Circle, Rashelle shares the deeply personal story behind why she created Mummas Circle and the podcast itself. From becoming a young mum and moving overseas with a baby, to experiencing loneliness, identity shifts, and the overwhelming realities of early motherhood, this episode explores the power of finding your village.

Rashelle opens up about the importance of connection, postpartum support, motherhood expectations vs reality, and why every mum deserves to feel seen, heard, and supported. This episode is a warm introduction to the heart behind the community, and a reminder that you were never meant to do motherhood alone.

Transcript

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Hi, I'm Rochelle and I am the owner of Mama's Circle and the author of Inside Mama's Circle. I've created this podcast because I wanted to be able to bring mothers into a community group online where if they're necessarily not able to get to a mum's group that we already provide or if they have anxiety or if they're not local to us, I wanted to create a podcast to really bring the community together so they had the resources and they had the professionals that they could listen to and get some knowledge around their postpartum journey as well. I just want to talk a little bit about my journey into motherhood. So I am a mum of three teenage girls, and they are everything to me. And I think motherhood has actually changed since my mum was a mum, and what we want to achieve from motherhood is really, really different now. When I became a mum, I was young, I was 22, and we were a young, newly married couple, and she came at a time that was a little bit uh not planned, not exactly in the time frame that we had anticipated, right? So that really changed the journey for me. I had a five-year plan, I was really career focused. I was once the baby's here, that's fine, she'll go into daycare full-time, I'll go back to my career. And then when I had her, I just was, I never want to leave her. So that changed everything for me and my identity and everything like that. When we started this parenthood journey together, my husband and I, my values really, really changed and I didn't ever want to leave her. So when sort of an opportunity came for us to move overseas so that I would be able to stay home with my child, leaving behind all of my family and support network, uh, I really jumped at that opportunity because it meant that I could be a full-time stay-at-home mum to my oldest daughter, Mia. I think that was a real eye-opening change for us. To put it in perspective, I was 21 at the time. We were newly married and a baby. This opportunity came, and so my husband went ahead to Dubai to set up this life for us with this really great amazing opportunity. I was to get the house sorted, get it rented out, tidied up. Then we were to get on a plane, first long haul plane flight by myself with this six-month-old baby. And I thought, oh, I've got this, it's totally fine. You know, I've really kind of gone into motherhood, I feel really comfortable, I know what I need to do. And sort of, I think, all that whole, oh, you'll be right mentality. We went overseas. The first long haul flight, I learned a lot of things. And I think the first thing that I learned was always pack clothes for yourself as well. Because within the first hour of that flight, she vomited all over me. And then I had to sit in jeans for 14 hours with uh not smelling so great. So always pack something for yourself and get on the plane last. You don't need to get on first with a baby. And so when we arrived, I, you know, sort of felt excited and this was a really great opportunity for us, and we were having this cool adventure as a little family of three. What I didn't anticipate was actually feeling really lonely and lost and really overwhelmed in that loneliness. Yes, I had my family back in Australia that I could call on and ask questions, but what I really craved was those other mums that really going through the same time as me, that were struggling with the sleep deprivation or the starting solids or the traveling or the naps or the relationships, actually, as well, like how your relationship changes with your husband. And being so young, I think that we really hadn't put a lot of really good communication strategies in place. So, but that's that'll be for another podcast, I'm sure. Another episode. So, in saying that, I actually remember stalking a mum. It's not my finest moment in Waitros because she looked like she had a baby the same age as mine. And her name was Lisa, and we then bumped into each other by chance again at Caribou Coffee, and her little boy Oliver was super active, like he just was on the go, and my and Mia was just like a little potato that would just sit there. And so he came over and he was sort of you know interested in Mia. So it was really great because then I was able to make that connection. Lisa was English, her husband was Australian, also expats, but they were actually then moving back to the UK for a short period of time. So that friend that I thought that I had made that connection with had actually was actually gonna go again. So I then decided that I needed to find a mum's group, and obviously, being an expat, they have a lot of expat groups, a lot of expat um catch-ups and things, and I found one in the Dubai Mall, which was really local to us, and so I found the five women who actually became like family to me. They were all about 10 years older than me and also still finding their feet. So we had obviously that proximity and that that time in our life and that stage in our life where we all really connected because I just remember going, I've got this, to going, actually, I don't think that I do have this. So it was a really tumultuous time. So in that moment, then we I was able to chat with these mums and ask them if it was normal, ask them if, like, how did you start solids? How did you do that? And I think that I always sort of come back to that with Mum's Circle because those women saved me in that time in my life. Um, having that that continuity and that support in the mums group was really, really invaluable for me. So that's why when I come to run my sessions and run my business with Mama's Circle, it's it takes me back to that time in my life where it was so important. So that connection with other mums that are going through the same thing is so important because you you call on them. You it makes you also not feel like you're going through this alone. It makes you not feel like you're just the strange one that's like, you know, I'm really struggling with this at the minute, or um, this is not normal. And they're like, no, it's so not normal, like, but we're going through it too, and that's okay. So that's why I feel like Mumma's Circle has become part of my evolution of being a mum. And I wanted to offer that to the immediate community, but also the wider community with our podcast and with our groups and with our events. So I've been running mums groups for nearly three years now, and at the start it was something that I just enjoyed doing. It's definitely something that I have fun doing. I love connecting with people. Then it became a moment where there was a mum that would come every week to one of my groups, and she was just so sad and so just struggling to navigate this new normal for her because she she said to me, I've always wanted to be a mum. We've worked really, really hard to become parents, lots of money involved, lots of you know, in medical intervention, and then it she felt really lost. She felt so sad that it wasn't the expectation versus the reality, but also she should want this, she should find it easy, she should slot into this motherhood role really, really easily, and she didn't, or she felt like she didn't. She was an amazing mum, so absolutely fantastic mum, but it was her that then came to these sessions that then found her connection, and each week I saw her become less of a a shell of like a shell of herself. I don't want to say it sound terrible and horrible because she wasn't, but she was really struggling, and so for her to find her people and to actually feel more confident in herself, confident in her motherhood journey, uh, confident in her relationship with her partner and with herself, like that for me went this is something really special. This is something that I need to do and I need to do really, really well. And this is why I invest so much time and energy and effort into creating these groups that bring the really important postpartum professionals in to support the mums in their whatever stage they're in, but also help facilitate those connections between the mums so that they have that support network from then when their little ones are little to toddlerhood and beyond. So I won't I still have some of the groups that still catch up regularly, even though you know obviously work and life and things like that continue to happen. They make regular sessions to catch up. So that moment for me was like, this is this is important, this is important work for me, and I'm gonna work really, really hard to make it a safe, welcoming, supportive, non-judgmental space for any mother who wants to be part of, wants to be part of it, really. What I think is missing in the broader conversation around motherhood, I think, is connecting women to the right kind of postpartum professionals and organizations to support their motherhood journey properly. I think we kind of get into this mode of we only know what we know, right? So the podcast and the groups really enable mums to open their network of allied health professionals to support them in all different stages. So whether it be a pediatric chiropractor that will help with a baby that's struggling in the car, or a physio, a pelvic floor physiotherapist so that a woman can feel like she's recovered correctly from giving birth. And so those that's this is what I think is really important about the community groups as well as the podcaster, where connecting women in this really important vital stage in their life to the right kind of support if and when they need it. You can feel lost and overwhelmed with the choices and the options out there and not know what the right thing to do is. So by bringing these people into our circle as well, it really, really supports women in all aspects of their motherhood journey. I had a really interesting conversation with one of my sisters actually, and we were talking about postpartum anxiety. So that was something back in my day, like was not really talked about. And and I look back now and go, oh, there's definitely elements where I was nervous, but was it anxiety? I'm not really sure. Having that conversation around how postpartum anxiety can be so real for some women, and it's and I've actually had mums say to me, I sat in the car and cried before I walked into the group because I was so nervous and so overwhelmed I almost didn't come. And I know we have had some mums that have felt too overwhelmed to walk into a group of people that they don't know. So glad that they did when they do come in. But I think what made me go, we need to sort of bring these conversations to other women is because I don't want any woman that's struggling with postpartum anxiety, depression, uh, to feel like they don't have their village. They have their circle. And also I feel like having them, if they're rural, if they're not in our local area to be able to attend, this is an opportunity for them to listen and gain the knowledge that we like to share in our groups and really do feel like they can be part of our circle and part of a really beautiful community that is supportive and connecting them with the right people. So I want you to feel part of the circle. I want you to feel part of the conversation with our guest speakers, uh, with myself. And I want to connect with you, whether it's, you know, whether you follow us or comment or DM or get in touch with us or follow us on our community page. I want you to feel like you're part of our circle. For any woman who is finding themselves in the trenches of motherhood and really going, I just need someone to listen to. I just need somebody to hear me and see me. All of our guest speakers and all of the conversations that we're going to have in this podcast, it's it's going to make you feel seen more than anything else. There's definitely times in my motherhood journey where I've gone, oh, this is really too hard. My, you know, the communication breakdown with my husband is really tricky to navigate. And I just needed that person to hear me or to relate or to understand. So this is what I hope this podcast will achieve with anyone who wants to listen, because I want you to feel seen and heard and part of our community, whether you're listening quietly at home by yourself or in the car, you know, conquering the universe. So this is kind of for any mother who wants to feel seen and heard in their journey in this time in their life. If I could sit in the room with myself 10 years ago, so my babes would be eight, six, and four. We are in the teenage trenches right now. That's tricky to navigate. I would say to her, what you're doing is enough. What you're giving is enough. Stop feeling the guilt, stop feeling the stop questioning all of the things you're doing as a parent and as a woman and as a wife and as a business owner. Stop questioning those things because you are doing enough and you are enough. And give yourself permission to invest in yourself. Because that's something that was something that I really lacked for a long time because I thought I had to do it all and it was never good enough. And I was on this real cycle of negative self-talk. And I think that what really changed was my husband said to me, give yourself permission. So from 10 years ago to now, give yourself permission to know that you're doing enough and you are enough. I would really love for you to come along this journey with me and join Mama's circle. Being inside our circle, you'll be able to find out more about me and my journey, hear some of my stories, connect with some of our guest speakers who just will be able to give you so much knowledge and arm you with the information that you might need that might help you in that moment when you're questioning yourself, when you're questioning if what you're doing is right, and support you to have, you know, a really positive experience in your motherhood journey. So thank you so much for listening and I can't wait to see you at the next episode. If this episode resonated with you, please feel free to follow the podcast, leave a review, and share with another mum who might need it. We're so glad to have you part of our circle.